By Bobby Witherington
Anyone who reads the Bible should be impressed with the sanctity of the home and the God-intended permanency of the marriage union. However, anyone who reads the daily newspaper is bound to be impressed with the fact that the home in our society is in deep trouble and that many marriages are proving to be anything but permanent. Surely some serious studies on this issue are in order.
In the last article, I discussed the husband. In this article, I shall consider the wife. According to Genesis 2:18 God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Hence, from this verse we learn it was the Creator who decided that man needed a wife. This was not something that man initially decided for himself. Concerning the wife, there are some seven points we shall make in this article.
1. According to Genesis 2:21,22 the wife was created from the rib of man or more specifically, the first woman (Eve) was created from a rib taken from the first man (Adam). It has been observed that she was not created from his head lest she rule over him, nor from his feet lest he trample upon her, but from his side that she might be near and dear to him.
2. According to Genesis 2:23 the wife whom God created for Adam was “called woman, because she was taken out of man.” Originally, as we learn from 1 Corinthians 11:8, “the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.”
3. In the husband-wife relationship the woman is given a subordinate role. In Genesis 3:16 God said to the woman, “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” According to 1 Timothy 2:12-14 there are two reasons why the wife is to be in subjection to the husband: (1) Because of the order of creation; “Adam was first formed, then Eve,” and (2) because of the fall, for the Scripture says, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression.”
4. Because of the fall, woman experiences pain when bearing children, for to the woman God said, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children” (Gen. 3:16).
5. Woman is the proper supplement to man, for in Genesis 2:18 she was called his “helper comparable to him.” God did not create an animal to be man’s helper; hence, the Bible condemns bestiality. Nor did God create another man to be man’s helper; hence the Bible condemns homosexuality.
6. Woman was designed to be a good thing, for in Proverbs 18:22 the wise man said, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.” Surely, in view of the fact that it is not “good that the man should be alone,” then man without woman is incomplete; hence, as Solomon said, “he who finds a wife finds a good thing.”
7. The wife, whose character and conduct is according to God’s will, has tremendous influence for good. It was a Sarah who gave birth to Isaac, a Hannah who gave birth to Samuel, and a Mary who gave birth to Jesus. Who could doubt that the ladies, each with a meek and quiet spirit, through their offspring, greatly influenced the world for good? What we need today is not more secular career women, but more women who make it their career to be good wives and mothers.
Guardian of Truth XXXV: 21, p. 653
November 7, 1991